Tangy Roasted Vegetables

First, I want to thank all of you for the comments you left on the Artichoke Bread post last week. Second, I am seriously wowed how it's taken off and many of you have posted your own variations. That's one of the many things that makes blogging so much fun.

I have received a few emails asking for different recipes for artichokes. Stuffed Artichokes is one of my favorites and once you try them, they will become a favorite of yours too! They are part of our Easter tradition, I made three of them Saturday afternoon.

I really enjoy vegetables; I simply love their bright colors, flavor and textures. Always trying different ways of preparing them, making them slightly more interesting, flavorful and fun to eat.

In the many years I have slaved over a hot stove, I still haven’t found a whole lot of different ways to prepare mixed vegetables to make them really stand out. Of course you can think of exotic ways to prepare them — throw in a good splash of balsamic vinegar, add a small handful of sun-dried tomatoes or even sneak in some melted anchovy! I like to get maximum flavor out of vegetables and try to keep it simple at the same time.

I am so loving this sauce and have been using it way more than I probably should, but I just haven't gotten tired of it. Roasting the vegetables with the Country Bob's sauce made for a zesty vegetable dish that put a little zip in my do-da!

I had a little less than half of a bag of stir-fry vegetables in the freezer. To the stir-fry vegetables I added a handful of sliced baby bells mushrooms, a few grape tomatoes and half of a sliced red onion. Season with a little salt and black pepper. Add 2 to 3 tablespoons of Country Bob's Sauce and toss the vegetables to evenly coat.

Place in a pre-heated 425 degree oven for 20 to 25 minutes. These are absolutely fantastic, they hit all the right spots. I actually ate most of them … all by myself. Shameless, I tell ya.

Chicken with Cape Cod Beach Plum Sauce

In February, I won a giveaway at Laurie's blog, That's Not What the Recipe Says . Included in Laurie's fabulous giveaway was a jar of her homemade Cape Cod Beach Plum Jelly. I had not heard of beach plums before, but let me tell you, Laurie's homemade jelly tastes amazing!

I honestly think we should plan a trip to Cape Cod and pick beach plums. Laurie can make jelly for us and we'll move in with her and live happily ever after.

We can make smoothies, pies, tarts...oh how I wish we had beach plums here!

This recipe will work with whatever cut of skinless chicken you have available. I just happened to have boneless, skinless chicken breasts on hand at the time. I cut them in half in order to have two thin pieces of chicken from one.

Also, you can use whatever kind of fruit spread you like. Orange marmalade or any kind of berry preserve or fruit spread will taste great!

Season chicken with salt and pepper. Heat a skillet over medium-high heat and add 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and sear 2 to 3 minutes per side. Remove the chicken from the pan and set aside.

Add 3 tablespoons of butter to the skillet, when it melts add the 1 tablespoon of flour and cook a minute or two until the flour has cooked just a little. Whisk in 1/4 cup of sherry and reduce 30 seconds then whisk in 1/2 cup to 1 cup of chicken stock. You want the sauce to be somewhat thick. You can use more stock or a little water to thin it out to your desired consistency. Now add 2 tablespoons of the fruit preserves/spread.

Season the gravy with a little black pepper. Serve chops with sauce ladled over top. Go crazy with the sauce, you have permission.

Grits - Beyond Breakfast

Grits, they aren't for breakfast anymore. In the South, we eat grits for breakfast, lunch or dinner. I've even seen grits formed into elegant little cakes, topped with various fruits and glazes and served at black tie parties. I'm serious, I really have! Maybe that will be a post for another day.

In all honesty, I really don't care for grits that much. My husband and the girls go ga-ga over grits. Any style, any flavor; it's game on for them. Since I am odd woman out on the grit or grits frontier I've had to adapt.

I made this grits side dish Monday night as the temperatures plummeted and snow began to fall. It's a cozy and tasty side that you will enjoy even if you're like me and not big on grits.

I have to give special credit to Kaitlin, she was my food stylist for this post.

I do have step by steps pictures for this post, but I am posting this from my laptop and it seems that Internet Explorer 8 doesn't let you move the pictures around. So I only have one of the finished product.

Cook 5 slices of smokey bacon, drain on paper towels, cool, crumble and set aside.

Melt 1/2 stick of butter over medium heat, and saute 1 medium size, finely chopped onion until just starts to brown.

While the onions are cooking, heat 4 cups of water to a rapid boil. Add in 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1 cup of QUICK cooking grits. The water should still be boiling, so immediately lower the heat to simmer and cover the pot and let the grits cook for 4 minutes. You want the grits to have a thick consistency. Thicker is best for this dish.

Remove the pot from the burner and stir in the onions, 1/4 stick of butter, the bacon, 1 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese, and 1/2 cup of freshly grated parmesan cheese. Season them with salt and pepper to taste and you can kick them up a bit with a little cayenne or crushed red pepper flakes. Stir to make sure everything is thoroughly combined.

Cover the pot and let the pot and let the grits set up for about 5 minutes.

Garnish with a little freshly chopped parsley.

Grit lovers from block around will flock to your house when serve these grits. It seems they can't be kept a secret for very long.

I have to go meet a bunny about some eggs, I'll be around this afternoon/evening to check out your blogs.

Have a Happy Easter!

Pepperoni Pasta

One of the many joys of pasta is your only limit is your imagination or your picky eaters. Don't let picky eaters hold you back!

Did you know that pepperoni isn't just for pizza or cold pasta salads? Throw some in a skillet and brown them up over medium-high heat. Remove and drain on a paper towel, but leave that little bit of pepperoni oil rendered to flavor the rest of your dish.

Add 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil to the skillet, 2 chopped shallots and a handful or two of sliced baby bella mushrooms. Saute until the shallots are wilted and the mushrooms have browned.

I had a couple of sun-dried tomatoes left overin the fridge, so I threw them in the skillet too along with 1 tablespoon of minced garlic. While the veggies are cooking, cook and drain 1/2 lb. gemelli pasta.

Once the veggies are sauteed, add 1 tablespoon of Herbs de Provence, 1/4 cup dry white wine, 1/2 cup of heavy cream, 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes and 1/2 cup of grated percorino romano cheese into the skillet. Stir to combine. Season with salt and white pepper to taste.

Add your drained pasta to the sauce and toss to coat evenly. Garnish with some freshly chopped parsley and some Percorino Romano cheese.

They will fall in love with you because you gave them pepperoni!

Sweet Potatoe Fries

I love me some sweet potatoes! They aren't that pretty but they are so real, so unpretentious, so delicious and you guessed it; I'm the only one in my house that eats them. A.J. was a good sport and tried. He said they were good, but no one scrapes them off their plate that fast into the garbage when they like something. What happened to the "Clean Plate Club"?

The homegirlz were off for the weekend so they were spared.


They were very good and very simple to prepare. I love the different flare they give to the overall meal. To me, it's like having dessert with dinner.

This recipe is for two servings. You can easily double it for four or triple it for six..

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

In a large bowl, mix together 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, 1 teaspoons of paprika and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon.

Peel and cut one sweet potato into strips. Be careful because sweet potatoes do not cut as easily as russets.

Toss the potato strips into the olive oil mixture, to coat well, and spread in a single layer onto baking sheet lined with foil and sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Sprinkle with salt and brown sugar.

Bake for 30 minutes, turning every 10 minutes.

YUM!

Gigi's Chocolate Cake

Last week, Gigi from Afterthoughts posted this Chocolate Cake recipe. She's been using this recipe for over 30 years and I can see why! This cake is very simple, so moist and the taste is wonderful. I was blown away at how it came out since this was my first attempt to make a chocolate cake from scratch. Them empty cake plate the next day was proof that my family was crazy about this cake.


Try out this recipe, it is definitely a keeper.






2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon soda
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 cup water
3 tablespoons cocoa (Gigi adds add more)
3/4 milk or buttermilk (Gigi likes buttermilk, I didn't have any and used 2%)
1/2 cup shortening
2 eggs

Grease and flour your cake pan.

Mix dry ingredients and set a side

Mix wet ingredients well and add dry ingredients a little at a time until all incorporated. Bake 350* in two layer pans (I used a Bunt pan) for 40 45 minutes.






Cool completely before icing. I made a glaze out of powdered sugar, almond extract and a splash of milk.


Gigi posted the following icing recipe. I can't wait to try this cake with her icing!



Chocolate Icing -

1 stick of butter
2 Tablespoons cocoa
3 cups powder sugar
dash of vanilla


(Gigi will sometimes use a block of cream cheese and make this a chocolate cream cheese icing, either way it's yummy)

Artichoke Bread

Artichoke bread is a favorite of ours. I don't know if it's Cajun, Italian or Greek, all I know is that it sure is good! Artichoke Bread is great at seafood boils but I really like it with barbecued chicken.

I got this recipe from a sandwich shop many people in our office used to frequent many years ago. We went nuts over this bread especially during Lent. The page is torn and tattered so I have to post so it can live on!

One side note here, right after I removed the bread from the oven, my oven went out; looks like it's one of the circuit boards. My stove still works and it was grilling weather until today. We're supposed to get 3 inches of snow tonight. Hopefully we can be up and running this weekend because I have a ham to bake Easter Sunday.

¼ cup butter
3 garlic cloves, pressed
1 (14-ounce) can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
4 ounces shredded Mozzarella cheese
1 cup grated parmesan cheese
½ cup sour cream
1 French bread loaf
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 ounces shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Melt the butter in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.

Add the artichoke hearts, Mozzarella cheese, parmesan cheese and sour cream. Stir to blend. Remove from the heat and cool.

Slice the bread lengthwise and scoop out some of the center. (Note: You can crumble the pieces of bread and add to the artichoke mixture if you wish.) Spoon the artichoke mixture evenly into the bread shell and sprinkle with the cheddar cheese.

Place each half on a baking sheet and cover lightly with aluminum foil.

Bake for 25 minutes, then remove the foil and bake for another 5 to 8 minutes or until the cheese melts completely. Cut into slices and serve warm.

I'm kind of jammed up at work today, so I'll be around this afternoon visiting blogs.